Sunshine
by Doctor.Uta
Summary: She was a ray of sunshine in his otherwise dark world. His little sunny place. First ever story of Nekozawa and Hinata: new ship-name UmeHina! My second (and final!) "Third Year Couples" one-shot. Not in the Duty universe.


NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE SAME UNIVERSE AS MY OTHER OURAN/NARUTO STORY DUTY. DO NOT BE CONFUSED. CARRY ON.

* * *

A common practice in the Host Club is gossiping. Many girls that request the same host end up talking together when one of them is getting extra attention, and the only topic that everyone can chat about is dirt on other people. Today is no different.

One redhead is currently sitting on his brother's lap, his blush heightening as the other continues whispering rather _suggestive _sweet nothings in his ear. The girl sitting in front of them is currently melting in her seat (and they think there's some blood dripping from her nose, but they're ignoring it for the sake of decorum), and the other group of girls sitting nearby are also blushing. However, since their attention is not on them so much, one girl decides to bring up a new topic.

"Hey, did you hear about the new girl?"

"Hyuuga from 2-A right? She transferred about a few weeks ago, but the only thing I know about her is that she's the heir of the martial arts and business management family."

"Hey, I know her! Hyuuga Hinata, yeah? She's in my class, but she doesn't really talk to anyone, though..."

"That's not what I heard! Get this, she's hanging out with _Nekozawa-sempai_!" Two pairs of ears perk up at the interesting tidbit as they stop their act to listen in; besides, the other girl is also too invested in the rumors to acknowledge their "Brotherly Love" act.

"Oh my, really?" Now _they're _curious, too.

"Yeah, I saw—"

"Hey, guys—" a male voice interrupts their conversation, and the group looks over to see inquisitive golden eyes. His head is resting on the other's shoulder with his arms still wrapped around his waist.

"—what are you all talking about?" The boy on his twin's lap tilts his head curiously. The girls squeal briefly before they explain the intriguing news. Apparently, there's a mysterious second year that transferred about a month ago that doesn't really talk to her classmates in 2-A; even more mysterious is her rumored friendship/relationship with the dark and creepy Nekozawa-sempai from 3-B.

When the Host Club closes for the day and everyone is cleaning up and about to leave, the Hitachiin twins walk up to Kyoya and Tamaki asking, "Do you know the new girl Hyuuga Hinata?" Tamaki crosses his arms, trying to recall.

"Hinata-san...? Hmm, I remember her introduction to our class from a while ago but I haven't actually talked to her. We sit at opposite ends of the room and she always leaves immediately after class ends." The lack of information piques their curiosity even more. The twins turn to the other second year of the group hoping his ever reliable clipboard contains information, and the blond inquires silently as well. It wouldn't do for the King of the Host Club to not know about a young lady, especially when she's in his class!

"Hyuuga Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga family. The clan originally dealt with martial arts and thus owned multiple dojos. However, they've recently entered the business management world and are gaining recognition. Hinata-san is 17 years old and in our class 2-A with rather impressive marks, almost rivaling mine.

"Her interests include flower pressing, reading, and occasionally baking—"

"She likes to bake?!" The short, blond third joins the conversation, his eyes sparkling with the prospect of eating her baked goods. Mori, ever the silent guardian, stands slightly behind him with a blank visage. Haruhi notices the commotion nearby and looks up from her textbooks.

"Are you talking about Hinata-sempai?" They all turn to look at the sitting brunette.

"Daughter, do you know the enigmatic Hinata-san?" Haruhi rolls her eyes.

"I see Hinata-sempai in the fourth library sometimes when I study on my days off. She's really nice, but she doesn't talk to a lot of people because she's really shy." Tamaki nods his head enthusiastically.

"Well, if my dear Haruhi likes her, then surely this Hinata-san is a wonderful person! We must help her overcome her timidness by inviting her to the Host Club and have her interact with the other lovely ladies." The honor student sighs; it's going to be another "help someone" campaign. She really hopes that it doesn't drive away the gentle bluenette, but at the same time, she wants to bolster her self-confidence.

The twins high five each other in success; with the King's new mission, they'll be able to learn more about the Hyuuga girl and maybe uncover the secrets of her connection to Nekozawa.

They can't wait.

* * *

The next afternoon, the Host Club is about to get ready for business. However, there seems to be something missing...

"Where's my darling daughter?!" Tamaki squawks as he searches fervently for her. As if on cue, the door opens. Haruhi walks through with an apologetic smile and sighs.

"Sorry, everyone. I had to find someone really quickly." The brunette walks back outside and grabs someone's hand, and reveals her "guest". She has midnight blue hair tinted with indigo highlights due to the lighting, and her pale lavender eyes perfectly contrast her dark tresses. Straight-cut bangs frame her slightly rounded face that's tinted a pale cotton candy pink from all the attention. She looks like a doll.

"Ah, Hinata-san." Kyoya approaches the pair at the door with a pleasant smile, albeit small. "Welcome to the Host Club. I do believe it is your first time here." She nods and her blush darkens a shade. "Well, it seems we're not open just yet, so you may relax with Haruhi, if you so choose." Again she nods and the "Natural" host leads her to her designated table.

The twins observe Hinata from their couch. As Haruhi has mentioned, the girl is painfully shy, but she has a sweet smile. The two girls are conversing quietly, probably about the novel the bluenette is gesturing with her hands, and then all of a sudden, _that _door opens slightly. From the dark shadows of the neighboring room emerges a tall figure swaddled with black, one hand holding up an unusual cat puppet. Hinata notices the figure's arrival, politely excuses herself from Haruhi's table, and walks over to the newcomer, which is coincidentally close enough to the twins' side of the room for them to listen to their chat.

"Ah, Hyuuga-chan, it seems you're visiting the Host Club."

"Hello, Nekozawa-kun," The twins raise eyebrows at their familiarity. It seems that there is some truth to the rumors. "Haruhi-kun invited me today to talk."

"I see. Well, I hate to keep you from your talk, so I'll take my leave today. I do hope we'll meet again another time." Hinata gives him a very sweet, very bright smile and waves goodbye to Beelzenef as he retreats to the darkness. When the door closes with a click, she turns around to walk back to Haruhi, but is stopped by two hands on her shoulders (the twins snicker when she squeaks).

"Hinata-san, you talk to Nekozawa-sempai?! And you're still alive?!" Tamaki's typical color is replaced with a terrified pallor, his body shaking in fear of the boy behind the door.

"A-A-Ah y-yes, S-Suoh-san." The twins muffle their guffaw—she stutters more _and _uses a more formal name around others compared to Nekozawa. Oh, this is pure gold!

Haruhi notices her friend's discomfort and defends her, "Tamaki-sempai! She's free to talk to whoever she wants!" The Hyuuga calms down when Haruhi butts in, and Tamaki leaves Hinata alone to continue worrying about "Hinata-san's safety" because "She might be cursed!" Haruhi deflects his outrageous claims with a deadpan voice, and Hinata can't help but giggle at their interactions.

—

Hinata bows and says her farewells to the Host Club as she leaves the room. Once the double doors close behind her, she allows the relieved sigh to leave her body.

She has had more interaction with other people in those few hours than the entire time she's been transferred. She managed to talk to a few girls that share some similar interests and made a few acquaintances, but other than that, she stayed quiet for the whole afternoon as she sat next to the unoccupied Kyoya.

Still, that's progress right?

Her feet unconsciously take her to the fourth library, and when she enters the large room she goes to the farthest corner near the wall of windows. In the corner is a large, cushioned ledge for her to relax on as she gazes out of the window. Behind the ledge is a small alcove containing a plush armchair and a small side table, shadowed enough for the "creepy" third year to reside in order to carry conversations. The perfect balance of the bright sunlight and the cast shadows resulting from it allows them to talk without any barriers.

In the corner right now is the very person she's thinking about.

"Hinata-chan." From behind his hood and black wig is a small smile, something Hinata returns.

"Umehito-kun," She laughs when she remembers their previous exchange. "It was weird for me to call you by your surname." He chuckles as well, and she knows that the same goes for him. "Haruhi-kun and I were talking about the novel you recommended. I think it's really good and Haruhi-kun is going to give it a try as well." She notices his small blush and she can't help but think it looks cute, which causes _her _to blush as well.

Curse her embarrassing thoughts.

"I'm glad you two like it."

They spend the few more minutes before Hinata has to leave in each other's company, her leaning against the window atop "her" ledge and him reclining in "his" comfy chair in the corner they secretly claim as "theirs".

* * *

Tamaki is determined for Hinata to spend at least one afternoon with each host. Today, it's the twins' turn.

As per usual, the twins are embracing one another, Kaoru tearing up from embarrassment and Hikaru caressing his cheek with the back of his head, and Hinata is wondering why she isn't fainting yet from all the blood rushing up to her face. The girl next to her actually _does _faint. Her friend is quick to pick her up and lean the unconscious girl against the couch's back; once she's done, she turns around to face the bluenette.

"So, Hinata-san—ah, is it okay if I call you that?" She nods and the other girl continues, "I was wondering if you can, um... clear some things up for me." Hinata tilts her head in confusion and the twins furtively eavesdrop; this is the moment they were waiting for!

"I-Is t-there something w-wrong?" She inwardly pats herself on the back for not stuttering too much. The afternoons spent in the company of all of her schoolmates are finally paying off.

"Well..." She begins and then tapers off. She takes a huge breath and rapidly, and unintentionally loudly, asks the question that's been bugging her. "Is it true that you're dating Nekozawa-sempai?!" All other activity stops as everyone looks over to the source of the noise.

"Eh?!" The exclamation rouses the other girls sitting next to her to prolong the line of questioning.

"Are you dating him?"

"How did you two meet?"

"What does he look underneath his cloak?"

"Did you ever see his eyes?"

"P-Please, I—"

"Why are you so close, isn't he creepy?"

"Yeah! He's so weird with his photo-phobia or whatever!"

"What's that freaky puppet thing called? Beelze-something?"

"S-S-S-STOP!" The interrogators gape, and everyone else's jaw drops to the ground. Who knew the small Hyuuga can raise her voice above a whisper? Everyone is staring at her, waiting for... what it is, they don't know. Hinata is already standing up from her shout and her hands ball into her fists. She's just so _mad _that they're talking about her friend this way and she can't help the words that spill out of her mouth.

"I-I... It's not nice to talk about Umehito-kun that way because he's really sweet, he just doesn't know how to talk to others even though he's really kind and considerate and has good taste in literature and I think he has a really nice smile and it's cute when he blushes and interacts with Beelzenef—that's the puppet's name, by the way—just because he looks a bit unusual doesn't make him creepy or scary, he's misunderstood but a great person that I really lo—!"

Suddenly, in the middle of her rant, the lights turn off, startling everyone as gasps and shrieks echo in the room. The hosts shout out to each other, asking what's going on and who turned off the lights, someone frantically inquiring where's my daughter to which an irritated voice responds that's irrelevant right now, and the lights turn on again. Kyoya is standing next to the light switches at the entrance door, pushing up his glasses and sighing about panicky scaredy-cats.

No one notices the missing Hinata.

—

A figure slumps against the closed door and slides down to sit on the floor. The black room is dimly illuminated by one candelabra sitting atop a table to the right. He releases a relieved sigh, looks down, and blushes. Remembering the comment about said blush evokes an even redder one. Wrapped in his dark cloak between his legs is the young Hinata, her hands clenching his uniform jacket and her head pressed to his chest. With the faint lighting he notices the tips of her ears underneath the hood are pink, and he infers that her blush is spanning her entire face.

She knows that he heard her. Why else are they sitting in his club room, her swaddled in dark fabric and him clad in his uniform and wig?

He wonders if she knows that he heard _everything_.

And that everything consists of her squeakily loud "Eh?!" that piqued his interest of the events next door, the rapid fire questions that were too muffled by his closed door, her broken up but commanding shout (he knows that voice _anywhere_ and he knows that whatever was said upset her which upset _him_), the really long diatribe that he realized was about him—the thought of radiant and lovely Hinata defending _him _caused his heart to pitter patter—and even the very last half-word that was left unfinished when he shut off the lights and hid away in this room.

He wishes he let her finish.

He pulls back the hood, which causes Hinata to look up. Her blush is still there, although her ears are back to their normal color. "Are... you okay?"

"Y-Yes. Thank you, Umehito-kun."

"Did you..." he gulps down his nervousness and trudges on. "Did you mean it? What you said?"

She splutters out an "O-O-Of course!" as if it's too obvious for her to confirm aloud and he smiles. And it's not his timid, small smile that he shows when he's pleased with something or amused by Tamaki's frightened antics. This is a grin radiating warmth and so much _joy_ that Hinata can't help but smile back. "Are you going to finish where you left off?"

"I—um... I-I-I l-l-lo—l-lo—" Her cheeks burn brighter and brighter and her stutter is getting worse, because even if she's the most at ease when talking to him, she's not at all comfortable talking about... t-that, no matter the person. Nekozawa knows this and chuckles again, rewarding her valiant efforts with a peck on her forehead. The action induces another darker blush.

"Me too."

* * *

I'm done. No sequel for this or Sweet Tooth. They were intended to be one-shots, and that's how I'm keeping it.

It took a while for the idea to form, unlike Sweet Tooth, which I wrote the minute I finished Duty Chapter 9 in about an hour. The progress was a bit awkward—just like them, haha. Not entirely sure how I feel about this one; it was getting really long so I needed to find a cut-off point and yeah... Yay~ first UmeHina one-shot ever. I even checked to see if there were _anything _about dear Nekozawa in the Naruto/Ouran crossover archive, but it was only one short story that wasn't really romantic and stuff... This is history in the making, dears.

Alrighty then, that's all I have to say. Happy reading!

Giving Ume-kun some love,  
—The Doctor


End file.
